Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Physical Activity Among Health Professionals in A Nigerian Tertiary Health Institution

Abstract:

BACKGROUND

The public health
campaign on the need for people to undertake physical activity (PA) as a
primary way of preventing chronic health problems such as diabetes mellitus,
obesity and cardiovascular diseases can be sustained through intensive
counseling of patients/clients by health care providers who are vast in the
practice of PA.

AIM

To assess the
knowledge, attitude and practice of PA among health professionals at the
Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owo, Nigeria.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

One hundred and three
(103) health professionals (HP) working at the FMC, among whom 24.3%, 22.3% and
19.4% are Medical/Dental Practitioners, Medical Laboratory Scientists, and
Nurses respectively participated in the study. They were required to complete a
22 item closed-ended questionnaire which was self-administered. Frequencies and
percentages of proportion of respondents were computed, data were also
summarized in pie charts.

RESULTS

78(75.73%) respondents
were found to have awareness of the health benefits of PA, 93 (90.29%) believed
they were physically fit, 67(65.05%) were able to adequately define physical
fitness, while 79(76.70%) professionals have counseled patients/clients about
the health benefits of physical exercises. However, only 25 (24.27%) know the
true parameters for assessing physical fitness.

CONCLUSION

The knowledge of the
sampled HPs about PA appears poor, although their attitude is positive. There
is need for health care givers to be exposed to educative measures that will
enrich their knowledge of PA and how to achieve optimal fitness level through
PA.